Definition:
Often referred to simply as e-commerce, the concept of Ecommerce (or e-commerce) is used to describe a business that is conducted over the internet using any of the web-based applications, such as email, instant messaging, Web services, UDDI, FTP, and EDI among others.
E-commerce can be between two companies transmitting funds, goods, services and/or data or between a company and a customer. Ecommerce is the trade or facilitation of trade in products or services through computer services, such as the internet.
Ecommerce Technologies
E-commerce is based on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems and automated data collection systems.
Modern e-commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least part of the transaction lifecycle, although it can also use other technologies such as email.
Ecommerce Modalities
E-commerce companies can use some or all of the following modalities:
- Online shopping websites for direct retail sale.
- The creation or participation in online marketplaces, which process sales to third parties from business to consumer or from consumer to consumer.
- Buying and selling from business to business.
- The collection and use of demographic data through web contacts and mass media.
- Electronic business-to-business data interchange.
- Marketing to potential and established customers by e-mail or fax (e.g. with newsletters).
- Participate in pre-sale for the launch of new products and services.